According to the latest statistics of THOMSON FINANCIAL SERVICES DATA, international merger and acquisition operations attained a new record level of $1,900 bn in the first half of 2000, or up 26% on the same period last year. The survey indicates, notably, that: i) the media, new technologies and telecommunications sectors were particularly in demand, with 38.7% of the total. The purchase of TIME WARNER by AOL - AMERICA ONLINE, acting as example with $187 bn invested; ii) the largest operations in the second quarter concerned European companies, the largest operation having been the purchase of ORANGE, third largest mobile phone operator, by FRANCE TELECOM for $41.7 bn, followed by the acquisition of SEAGRAM by VIVENDI ($41.4 bn); iii) the evolution in operations were not linear however, a fall having been recorded in the second quarter due to the slowdown in the United States where the value of the transactions plunged by 43% compared to the first quarter (or $1,121 bn recorded in the first quarter compared to 760 bn in the second).